"Promise" is a song by Romeo Santos, featuring

Usher Usher may refer to: Several jobs which originally involved directing people and ensuring people are in the correct place: * Usher (occupation) ** Church usher ** Wedding usher, one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony ** Fiel ...

, from Santos' debut studio album ''

Fórmula, Vol. 1 ''Formula, Vol. 1'' is the debut studio album by American singer Romeo Santos, released on November 8, 2011 by Sony Music Latin. It is Santos's first album as a solo artist following the break-up of American bachata group Aventura, of which he ...

'' (2011). The track was co-written and produced by Rico Love. It was released as the album's second single in Latin America and the United States. The song combines elements of

bachata Bachata may refer to: * Bachata (music), a genre of Latin American music **Traditional bachata, a subgenre of bachata music * Bachata (dance), a dance style from the Dominican Republic * Bachatón, a hybrid bachata/reggaeton music style * "Bachata ...

and R&B and peaked atop the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

''s Latin Songs chart, becoming the second consecutive number-one song in the chart for Santos and the first for Usher. It is recognized as one of Romeo Santos's

signature song A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...

s. The music video for "Promise" was directed by

Anthony Mandler Anthony Mandler (born April 18, 1973) is an American film director, music video director, television commercial director and photographer. As a music video director, his most notable and frequent collaborator is Rihanna. The two have worked on s ...

, who previously worked with

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to the ...

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and Kanye West.

Background

After the temporary separation of the band, Aventura, Romeo Santos signed a record deal with Sony Music Entertainment and recorded his debut studio album, ''Formula, Vol. 1'', which includes most of the tracks in bachata rhythm and

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

songs such as the lead single "You", which peaked at number-one in the ''Billboard'' Latin Songs, and "Promise", with vocals by American singer

. The collaboration came through because Santos' manager Johnny Marines introduced Usher to Santos. Usher was impressed by Santos ability to perform after seeing him on YouTube, saying: "This is the thing that people will remember". "Promise" was co-written and produced by Rico Love and features Usher singing on bachata rhythm for the first time. According to Carlos Quintana of About.com the song and the rest of the tracks included on ''Formula, Vol. 1'' may be classified as Latin urban contemporary with R&B and hip hop influences. The track was named "fluttering" by Mikael Wood of '' Entertainment Weekly'' on his review of the parent album.

Music video

Anand Bhatt Usher and Romeo Santos Arrive on Red Carpet

The music video for "Promise" was directed by

who worked previously with

, Kanye West and

. Usher and Santos spent 24 hours on set, with a highly specialized a scenic setting, full lights, cameras and special effects. The video shows both performers singing to their love partners about the love they feel for them and asked them to promise to never leave them without their love. Upon release the video has had a heavy rotation on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

reaching the top of the most-played list, even with Santos performing in Spanish language, something noted by Ruben Leyva, Sony U.S. Latin president, commenting that Santos has been "able to do what other artists have been able to do-reach a dominant-English-speaking audience-only by singing in Spanish".

Live performances

The song was performed by Santos and Usher for the first time in the Latin Grammy Awards of 2011 on November 11, 2011 in Las Vegas, and received a standing ovation.

Chart performance

"Promise" was released as the second single from ''Fórmula, Vol. 1'' to airplay and digital download on September 2, 2011. The song was the highest debut at the ''Billboard'' Latin Songs chart on the week of September 24, 2011 at number 24, climbing to the top ten the following week. The song reached the top of the chart the week of October 29, 2011 replacing Ricardo Arjona's " El Amor". "Promise" became the second number-one single for Santos in the chart, following the seven-week reign of his previous single " You". The song is also the first number-one in the chart for

surpassing his highest-placement in the chart with " DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" which peaked at number 16 in 2010. According to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

the track has sold 49,000 digital downloads in the United States.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Track listing and Digital Download Formats

*Original Version #"Promise" – 4:13 *English Version #"Promise (English Version)" – 4:13

References

{{Usher singles 2011 singles Romeo Santos songs Usher (musician) songs Macaronic songs Spanglish songs Music videos directed by Anthony Mandler Songs written by Pierre Medor Songs written by Rico Love Songs written by Romeo Santos Song recordings produced by Rico Love Sony Music Latin singles Contemporary R&B ballads